TWO BREWERIES PREPARE TO OPEN THE TAPS IN CITY

Coast Highway pub planned
by award-winning craft brewer

Oceanside is on tap to get two new craft breweries, including one on South Coast Highway that will be owned and operated by a local brewer with stout credentials in the industry.

Jeff Bagby, who has won several national awards and served for years as head brewer for Carlsbad-based Pizza Port, plans to open his Bagby Beer brewery at 601-617 S. Coast Highway late this year. The brewery — which will take over the site of a former Saab dealership — will feature a tasting room, restaurant and bar.

He said North County is a great place for beer aficionados and the people who cater to them.

“It’s a good place to open a brewery,” said Bagby, a Vista resident. “Every day, more and more people are checking out craft beer.”

An Encinitas native, Bagby said he initially planned to open the brewery in his hometown, but the deal fell through.

His real estate agent steered him toward the Oceanside site, which proved a perfect fit. Bagby said the property owner was looking for a restaurant or brewery to replace the car dealership.

“Coast Highway is attractive because of its access to the transit center, it’s close to Interstate 5, it’s close to the ocean,” Bagby said. “It just seemed like this is an area that is in the process of bringing in more restaurants and places like that, kind of newer shops.”

Across town, Legacy Brewing plans to open a brewery and tasting room by mid-March at 363 Airport Road at state Route 76. Legacy partner John Snyder said he picked Oceanside because there is a growing demand for specialty beers in North County.

“We have an underserved market up here,” Snyder said. “We have a very young community up here in the Oceanside and Carlsbad area. Most of those people go out.”